Is there any way for someone who has chosen the movies over life to write anything sensible about Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Cinema Paradiso; 1988) for an audience who have made the same choice? I could talk about the way that Philippe Noiret's performance dominates the movie, but he is the only actor who plays his role from start to finish. Certainly, if Giuseppe Tornatore had set out to make a feature intended to win a Best Foreign Picture Oscar, he couldn't have plotted more cannily.

It is, after all, a movie about how we start out as small children, trying to make sense out of the world, with nothing to guide us but stories in the dark.... and in the end, we end up that way, nostalgic for a time when we were confident that some day all would be revealed.

Well, it hit all my buttons. Still, as I noted at the start, I chose the movies over life.

Bob

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. Pretty cool place. The people who live there? They love it. They’re nuts.”

I think it was Jean-Luc Godard who dedicated A BOUT DE SOUFFLE to Monogram Pictures, but he may have had second thoughts if he had seen MONEY MEANS NOTHING (1934). Saying that, the film might well be improved with subtitles as the soundtrack was in rather rough condition. Gloria Shea plays the younger daughter of a well-off family who becomes involved with driver Wallace Ford after his truck is hijacked.

Her infatuation is eventually reciprocated and marriage is discussed, much to the horror of her family who threaten to cut her off without a penny for such foolishness. The next stage of the film is taken with their matrimonial problems and relations with neighbour (and boss) Edgar Kennedy and his dragon of a wife Maidel Turner, although it is nice to see Vivien Oakland as Shea's older (and snooty) sister.

The film begins to gain interest (SPOILER) when Kennedy suggests that Ford is responsible for the hijacks, getting him the sack. Their troubles meeting the bills and trying to get work without references liven up the film, as do the scenes at the depot where Ford finally gets work and is then held up yet again. Aside from these few minutes, I found the film tedious, and was tempted to give up on it. Directed by the prolific Christy Cabanne.

Donald Binks wrote:For the past few weeks I have been following a quite lavish series on the television about the young Queen Victoria, and today, why a DVD floated across to me of the dear old Queen at the end of her life. It documents her relationship late in her life with a servant from the Raj. The title of this epic was "Victoria and Abdul". (2017).

Over the years we have seen quite a lot of Her late Majesty, popping up hither and thither - there was, not all that long ago, that picture "Her Majesty Mrs. Brown" with Sir Billy Connolly as the dour Scotsman and Dame Judi Dench as the monarch. This film explored the relationship between the two as eyebrows have been raised over the last century for reason that it may not have been an entirely platonic friendship. Now this latest picture has Dame Judi back again to explore another man who was supposedly looming large in the Queen's life.

The one thing that we have learned over the past couple of decades or so is that Queen Victoria wasn't the stern, strait-laced old biddy that we had all come to associate with the expression "not amused". Apparently she was just the opposite. Quite a merry old soul who enjoyed a bit of a laugh. She was also quite a modern lass in some respects. She took showers instead of baths and was one of the first in Britain to have a telephone installed. If she had lived a bit longer, who knows, she may have gone up in an aeroplane. She was also very interested in her peoples and took a keen interest in the quarter of the Earth over which she reigned. India, being the jewel in the Crown of the Empire, was of particular fascination for her, and towards the end of her life she did indeed take to eating curries, learning Urdu and building a Durbar in "Osborne House", her home on the Isle of Wight.

So, the premise of this film, that she had a close relationship with some Indian servants has a strong ring of truth to it, but this film, methinks, does show a tendency to wander off on a road of its own, at times galloping past what might have been actuality. I suppose one could say it has been "Sissi-fied" to some extent - where everything is an over romanticism, with all seriousness gobbled up by comedic effect. Having said that, if one is prepared to let a whole lot of codswallop employed at times, float over one's head, and just take the picture as some type of Ruritanian adventure, then all is not lost. And, there are some extremely funny moments such as Queen Victoria on learning of a fruit called a "mango" asking her Chief of the Household to get her one. "But, they are peculiar to India Ma'am". - "Well, I'm the Empress of India, have one sent over."

Dame Judi manages to paint a very good picture of Queen Victoria in her characterisation and she does so without destroying the late Queen's dignity or memory, she enhances it. Ali Fazal, tall, dark and handsome makes a matinee idol out of Abdul the servant. He is a go-getter of course, going from prison clerk to virtually the Queen's companion - playing his popularity with the Queen up for all it's worth. The other Indian servant - Mohammed (Adeel Akhtar) has been contrasted. His glass is half-empty. He hates all things British, is miserable and complaining and finally succumbs to the English weather.

All the British - the Queen's household, and the politicians are all racists and are to a man, against the Queen having anything to do with the heathens. As in all good films from the U.K., they are all played by a team of accomplished players. Tim Pigott-Smith is wonderfully continually harassed as the Chief of the Household - Ponsonby, Sir Michael Gambon is the aghast Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, Eddie Izzard manages to look not too unlike H.R.H. the then Prince of Wales, Paul Higgins is the frightfully snobbish Scottish Dr. Reid and Simon Callow makes a surprising appearance as Puccini of all people.

This is a lavish production - the interiors of the palaces are superb as are all the uniforms. It is capably directed by Stephen Frears but is a film aimed at being popular entertainment rather than a lesson in historical fact. But, in the long run, who can blame the producers for that?

This production seemed to go down well at the cinema showing I was at last week. My companions were very enthusiastic about it - rather more than me, although I enjoyed the evening. My friend who suggested the show is very anti what she terms 'old' films, although she is not always consistent in that. I could have pointed out that THE DEER HUNTER ( a recent purchase of hers) and THE GODFATHER (a favourite) are now a good deal older than CITIZEN KANE and YOUNG MR LINCOLN were when I first watched them!

Donald Binks wrote:... the dear old Queen at the end of her life. It documents her relationship late in her life with a servant from the Raj. The title of this epic was "Victoria and Abdul".... (2017).

This production seemed to go down well at the cinema showing I was at last week. My companions were very enthusiastic about it - rather more than me, although I enjoyed the evening. My friend who suggested the show is very anti what she terms 'old' films, although she is not always consistent in that. I could have pointed out that THE DEER HUNTER ( a recent purchase of hers) and THE GODFATHER (a favourite) are now a good deal older than CITIZEN KANE and YOUNG MR LINCOLN were when I first watched them!

I presume that your friend's comments would go under the heading of "women's talk"? (Forgive me for generalising). It doesn't make sense - all films become old, some of course older than others. If she means that the film was relatively straight forward to follow and didn't try and tax the audience by being indecipherable - as seems to be a modern trend, then yes I would agree. The only problem(s) I had with the film was that it seemed to take a rather glib approach - perhaps the relative facts were considered too boring and a little elaboration was required? There were also some anachronisms in the dialogue, but, if the actual English eloquence of Victorian times was utilised, few might understand it?

Regards fromDonald Binks

"So, she said: "Elly, it's no use letting Lou have the sherry glasses..."She won't appreciate them,she won't polish them..."You know what she's like." So I said:..."

Make Your Own Bed (1944), slight but amusing Jack Carson comedy with JC playing a hapless P.I. who gets a job playing butler for dimwitted industrialist Alan Hale. Hale has a hard time keeping servants, so he makes up a mystery to keep Carson involved, hiring a group of what he believes to be radio actors to play German spies. Hijinks ensue.

Directed by Peter Godfrey (Christmas in Connecticut, The Two Mrs. Carrolls), Jane Wyman is Carson's fiancee, posing as his wife and Hale's cook, who refuses to let him share her bed, even if it is just for show (and they've been engaged for two years). She is adorable though, as only 1940s Jane Wyman can be.

Brigitte Nielson has had her cottage burned, her brother killed, eventually her sister dies and some world-threatening talisman needs to be recovered so it can stop with the threatening already, so the High God of Gods grants Red Sonja (1985) enormous -- well, the word said is "strength", but those are two large circular breastplates in what is essentially a big-budget sword-and-sandal movie directed by Richard Fleischer.

Mr. Fleischer, as always when given a large budget, spends the money to no particular effect except to make sure it clearly gets on the screen. Arnold Schwarzenegger is along as Conan the Barbarian, but because they apparently lacked the rights, they call him something else. He does look smashing in what I think is in a fur-trimmed lace negligee, and I have no doubt that Nitravillains who are fans of .... well, I'd call 'em funny hats... will find plenty to amuse them herein.

Bob

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. Pretty cool place. The people who live there? They love it. They’re nuts.”

The Luck of a Sailor (1934) is a total misfire of a comedy about a deposed prince who is called back to Amnesia to be king. Along the way he has married a poor-but-pretty princess (Greta Nissen) rather than the plain-but-rich princess (Jean Cadell) his government wanted him to marry. She is forced to abdicate and gladly does so, so she can marry her real love (David Manners) who is captain of a boat. Story sounds OK but there's not a laugh in this leaden presentation that co-stars Clifford Mollison as a reporter and Camilla Horn as the princess' friend. Hugh Wakefield plays the prince. Nissen and Horn as glamorous but all interest ends there.

Was David Manners ever in a good comedy? Or rather, was he ever good in a comedy? I found myself enjoying his performance in The Death Kiss, he seems more relaxed and natural there than in many of his big studio outings.

And the last film in the Columbia Sam Fuller Collection -- at least, the last in the sequence in which I watched them all -- is Shockproof (1949), in which Patricia Knight, who is a dead ringer for Rita Hayworth, gets paroled from a 5-year prison sentence for murder into the keeping of that well-known Italian, Cornel Wilde. Cornie promptly falls in love with her, takes her into his house to help his stereotypical Blind Italian Mama in defiance of all parole-officer rules, then flees with her after she murders another hapless lover ... or does she?

Once again, Columbia rather desperately claims as "a Sam Fuller film" something for which he only provided the story. Well, I don't begrudge them the effort, because even if he's only shooting the bull in the writers' room, Fuller stamps his trademarks on everything he ever gets involved with. Here, it begins with the title: a perfectly Fulleresque title, but for once it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the story. Unless he's trying to say nothing can shock Cornie ... or is it Patty who is shockproof? I don't know, the film doesn't explicate the point in the slightest.

This is a noir, but since it was directed by Douglas Sirk, it's a romantic melodrama trying to be a noir. The chief problem is that it is just not credible. I've always felt that credibility is a crucial ingredient for a successful noir: even when an airplane is crop-dusting you in the middle of nowhere, the setup/lead-up has to be credible. However, if you're willing to put that caveat aside, Shockproof is quite interesting.

As with so many films of the era, a jittery production studio insisted on adding a totally ridiculous happy ending to what should have been a bleak, doom-laden fadeout. Forewarned is forearmed.

George Arliss channels the Raja of Rukh from The Green Goddess in a sly, rather than carnal mode in East Meets West (1936). England wants an alliance with George Arliss' kingdom; so does a thinly-disguised Japan. Arliss wants neutrality and money to irrigate. His son, Ballard Berekeley, wants Lucie Mannheim, who is married to Ronald Ward.... who has just been caught smuggling booze into Arliss' very dry Muslim country and is scheduled to be hanged. As England demands its subject back, the population demands blood and Japan sees a chance to foment a revolution, who will come out on top?

In any movie with Mr. Arliss, the fun is watching him say his lines in his sly, lazy way, while everyone dashes around, trying their hardest to get past him and his scriptwriters. Miss Mannheim offers some overwrought eye candy as temporary distraction, but Mr. Arliss is ninety per cent of the show, and a very good show it is.

Bob

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. Pretty cool place. The people who live there? They love it. They’re nuts.”

In Don't Get Me Wrong (1937) Max Miller is running a carnival pitch as a spieler with Olive Blakeney and George E. Stone. Wallace Evennett shows up with a pill that, added to water, will make a cheap substitute for gasoline. With everyone in tow, Miller talks his way into the offices of Clifford Heatherley to back this in a big company. Heatherley's plan, however, is to use this obvious scam to drive down the price of petroleum shares and buy them up at a cheap price.

Max Miller was a fast-talking British comic whose patter tended to be off-color. Here, he's very amusing for most of the movie until the final quarter, when the plot requires that things be done and he occasionally stop talking. Up until then he's a delight in this Teddington production from Warner Brothers, where they had parked a couple of their contract players; Miss Blakeney had appeared in the 1934 version of the similarly plotted The Butter and Egg Man.

Bob

Last edited by boblipton on Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. Pretty cool place. The people who live there? They love it. They’re nuts.”

Just caught The Limehouse Golem (2016) via a Netflix dvd rental. It certainly captures the gritty horror and terror of Limehouse of the 1880s. As usual excelletn period piece, fully immersive in that regard. On the whole, I found it rather dull and guessed the identity of the Golem about halfway through. I enjoyed the individual performances and was sad to read later that this was to be Alan Rickman rather than Bill Nighy (and do not get me wrong, I admire Nighy an awful lot). I think had Rickman been in good health to have completed the project, he would have brought the level of intensity up to the task. The film was, in the end, dedicated to his memory. Not a bad film, not a great film and not sure I felt it was worth my time.

Another Woman (1988) is one of Woody Allen's Bergmanesque dramatic films, this one borrowing themes from Wild Strawberries. It concerns a brilliant philosophy professor (Gena Rowlands) who's about to write a book. But bits of conversation thru an air vent from the neighboring psychiatrist's office distract her and she ruminates about her family and her life. She is drawn to the troubled woman (Mia Farrow) who visits the psychiatrist, which leads to all sorts of personal crises and confrontations as she realizes the failures of her life. Sombre and beautifully lensed by Sven Nykvist, the film mood is enhanced by "Gymnopédie No 1" and "The Bilbao Song." Excellent performance by Rowlands and Gene Hackman, Ian Holm, Sandy Dennis, John Houseman (in his last film appearance), Blythe Danner, Betty Buckley, Martha Plimpton, Harris Yulin, David Ogden Stiers, and Philip Bosco.

I think I first heard of NIEMANDSLAND / HELL ON EARTH (1931) through Ivan Butler's book on war movies. What I hadn't known (or had forgotten) was that the film (understandably) ran into trouble with the Nazis and was suppressed, being thought lost / destroyed until the mid-1960s when a print surfaced from somewhere. What survives is a good deal shorter, and has been given some very jarring and unsuitable credit titles, as well as other possible defects as it is not easy to tell where the defects are original or due to problems raised by missing footage. In addition, the first part of the film as shown here is rather fuzzy.

HELL ON EARTH follows five men: an Englishman, a Frenchman, a German, a Russian Jew and a black man (who comes over as the multi-lingual one) are seen in their domestic roles before War intervenes. We see them next in a dug-out where they have taken temporary shelter. Despite arguments and differences, they realise they have more in common than their differences.

The film adopts the idea of each man speaking his native language (aside from the black fellow who does the interpreting) and realising they can communicate with less difficulty than they expect. Marred somewhat by the print defects, HELL ON EARTH works less well than one would have liked, but this is due in part to the damage it met at the hands of the Nazis and the problems in restoring the film decently. Interestingly enough, the black man is the only one of the five not seen with a sweetheart or a wife.

I'm channeling Bob Lipton in that last night I watched DON'T GET ME WRONG(1936) which Bob reviewed above. One of Warners Teddingham's quickie quotas I thought this comedy was on par with anything the studio produced in Burbank including the snappy performances and energetic editing. Star Max Miller reminded me of somebody of more recent vintage. Looking him up I learned that he provided a major inspiration to Benny Hill. The YT poster, eh44, relates that WRONG is one of only three of Miller's Teddingham films to survive and they apparently haven't been shown on UK television since the 80s, and are not available on home video. He is taking it off YT on 11/16 so if you want to see this jolly gem you'd better make haste.

You can tell that För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor (1964; aka All These Women) is a comedy. It's not simply the jazzy version of "Yes, We Have No Bananas" they play at scene changes. It begins with a funeral, and that's a rule: comedies start with funerals, tragedies start with peasants dancing around singing "Oh, We are happy peasants!" -- preferably in Italian. It also looks like Ingmar Bergman was tired of being called a grim symbolic genius, so he included titles noting that various things are not symbolic.

My personal interpretation is that he had one movie left on his contract and was angry with the front office for some reason, so he decided to make a Jerry Lewis movie and in color to boot, because he was tired of dealing with the critics.

Anyway, after the half dozen or so Bergman leading ladies come up and say the same thing over the unseen corpse -- translated as "So like him and so unlike him" -- we drop back five days to witness Carl Bilquist show up as the home of the great cellist to write his stuffy biography and deal with his mistresses -- the Great Man never appears. I think Bergman was fooling everyone and wanted to get back to the theater for a while.

Bob

Last edited by boblipton on Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. Pretty cool place. The people who live there? They love it. They’re nuts.”

Well, blow me down if there was not another picture in the pile with Sir Donald Sinden in it! This time around it's a drama, and Sir Donald only rates third billing as a barrister defending a young man (Adam Faith) accused of killing a policeman. The main star is the American, Anne Baxter - who is a trick cyclist as well as being the estranged wife of the aforesaid Sir Donald. The young man is found guilty and is due to hang but Ms. Baxter takes it upon herself to prove the blighter is innocent. The picture goes by the strange title of "Mix Me a Person" (1962).

There is a strong message in the film against capital punishment - and it was in the '60's that everyone - in most civilised countries - was in a mood to abolish it. It is very difficult to reverse the sentence when subsequent evidence comes to light that proves the person was innocent. Such is the story contained in this film.

I liked the way it was done. It was straightforward, it established the background adequately, flashbacks were done in a comprehensible way and the story managed to keep us on edge until the final outcome.

Adam Faith at the time was still a pop singer, but was about to kick the habit and become an actor full time by the end of the decade. He does though get to sing a couple of songs in this - which are not outside the scope of the film. He is part of a coffee lounge set and it was in the days just before the Merseyside sound rejuvenated the English pop music scene.

As well as a definite anti-hanging bias, the film also has a go at the Irish. It is they who are involved in a sub-plot gun running and smuggling arms.

A nice little drama that is quite effective and thought provoking.

Regards fromDonald Binks

"So, she said: "Elly, it's no use letting Lou have the sherry glasses..."She won't appreciate them,she won't polish them..."You know what she's like." So I said:..."

"The Red Baron" (2008) I thought would be an interesting film as it would tell Manfred, Baron von Richthofen's story from the German side (it being a German film). Instead I got a rather obscure account of the man's life presented in a rather muddled fashion. Sure, the film was good on the C.G.I. re-creations of battle scenes - although a lot of it looked as though it was overdone and bordered on the implausible or impossible.

Matthias Schweighöfer certainly looks the part of a blond hero - although one gets the impression that he is just out of short trousers. The only problem with his performance is that we are only really given a cardboard cut-out of Baron Manfred and don't really get much in the way of his background or other roundings out of the character.

The film falls down completely in the script and scenario department. The producers have gone all out in trying to make an anti-war statement, but have fallen down completely on making a good biographical drama. It's all very patchy - more a series of tableaux where a few people gather round and utter bits of dialogue. They have also tried to imbue the film with a bit of a romance - there is no factual evidence that Baron Manfred was involved romantically with a field nurse.

Another thing that I found irksome was that all the battle scenes had a sudden, massive increase in volume - so much so that it would have sounded to anyone passing my house at the time, that the whole place was exploding!

Regards fromDonald Binks

"So, she said: "Elly, it's no use letting Lou have the sherry glasses..."She won't appreciate them,she won't polish them..."You know what she's like." So I said:..."

Apart from Basil Rathbone, my other favourite for playing Sherlock Holmes was Jeremy Brett. I therefore had a great deal of satisfaction watching him in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1988) which is just one of the many of the stories he did for TV back in the 1980's.

I like the way Jeremy Brett speaks his lines. His pronunciation is faultless. Edward Hardwicke's Dr. Watson is presented as a more capable fellow rather than a bumbling oaf - although Nigel Bruce's character was endearing.

It's always good to pop one of these on for a nice night's entertainment when the TV is only sending out rubbish.

Regards fromDonald Binks

"So, she said: "Elly, it's no use letting Lou have the sherry glasses..."She won't appreciate them,she won't polish them..."You know what she's like." So I said:..."

Saving Brinton (2017) turned out not to be about saving a collection of early movies and associated paraphernalia -- including Star Films and Pathe Freres catalogues -- pardon me while I wipe the drool from the keyboard -- but about Michael Zahs, a self-described "saver" who saw the stuff being thrown out, saved it and spent thirty years telling people gently, politely and repeatedly "This should be saved," before anyone listened.

I wept.

Bob

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. Pretty cool place. The people who live there? They love it. They’re nuts.”

Criterion's beautiful restoration of Ride the Pink Horse (1947) is very welcomed. Stylish noir story directed by and starring Robert Montgomery as a post-war guy named Gagin avenging the death of a friend by a war profiteer named Hugo (Fred Clark). He tracks the gangster to a small border town in New Mexico (filmed in Santa Fe). The gangster's girlfriend (Andrea King) tries to involve him in a blackmailing scheme once she learns he has a damning check that proves Hugo's guilt, but Gagin rebuffs her. It's fiesta time and Gagin cannot get a hotel room and ends up befriending a young local woman (Wanda Hendrix) and a man who runs a cheap merry-go-round (Thomas Gomez). They form an odd alliance against Hugo and his thugs. Exceptional film on all counts. Montgomery, though not a favorite, is perfect as the war-weary vet (he served in New Guinea) who stands up to corruption and temptation, but he's not exactly heroic. He's more of an anti-hero. Hendrix is excellent in her first major film role as the girl Pila who seems infatuated with the dour stranger. Gomez earned an Oscar nomination for support as the wise Pancho. King and Clark are suitably nasty. Then there's Art Smith as a government man named Retz who seems to be channeling Philip Baker Hall decades before that actor's prominence. Smith is also excellent as the wry agent who seems to pop up everywhere. Much of the 1947 Santa Fe is quite recognizable (I lived there for many years), and the burning of Zozobra as part of a harvest festival (begun in 1924) is still an annual event. Much of the action takes place in the Pueblo Revival-styled La Fonda Hotel (built in 1920), a fondly-remembered watering hole.

Although Ricardo Cortez is listed as the star of THE PHANTOM IN THE HOUSE (1929), it is Henry B Walthall who has the meatier role and holds the film together for its brief (under an hour) running-time. He plays an inventor who takes the blame for his wife's killing another man and is sent to the Big House for life. Whilst his companion in the cell next to him is obsessed with revenge, Walthall is busy working on the side.

This all happens in 1914. Released in 1929, Walthall returns to his wife to find her and their daughter living in splendour, mainly due to the money from his hard work. His wife (Grace Valentine) in an ungrateful social climber who wants their daughter (Nancy Welford) to make a 'good match' to an empty-headed nobleman rather than honest Cortez, whom she loves. Valentine promises to break Cortez if the marriage goes ahead. Walthall steps in, threatening to spill the beans if this nasty business goes ahead.

Further complications occur when Walthall's prison neighbour turns up, his revenge being aimed at the judge who sent both of them down. Cortez, being handy, is immediately suspect No 1, so something must be done to save him from the chair as he refuses to defend himself....

Although not too original, THE PHANTOM IN THE HOUSE is a fairly decent drama, with some nice touches (the seedy lodging-house where the ex-con hangs out) and the copy here is easy to follow, unlike some of the early talkie dramas whose soundtracks are pretty incomprehensible through wear and tear. Directed by Phil Rosen, who would be immersed in second features for a good many years after this one.

One Good Turn (1936) was clearly a Quota Quickie, intended for the British market. It stars Leslie Fuller, a popular music hall comedian, with tiny Georgie Harris as his sidekick. They want to break into show business, but can't. The plot involves their pretty landlady's daughter, Molly Fisher, her brother, who keeps borrowing larger and larger sums of money, a crooked show producer and Chinese gangsters.

Producer Joe Rock and director Alfred Goulding slot in some standard knockabout routines, but it's all of the "lttle guy wins despite the odds" variety, with a couple of very loose ends left untied. Despite some very low production values, it's c;ear that all the performers are trying very hard, and Fuller was clearly a popular enough performer with his audience to warrant this sort of low-budget film making. Alas, it has aged very poorly.

Bob

Last edited by boblipton on Wed Nov 15, 2017 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. Pretty cool place. The people who live there? They love it. They’re nuts.”

Very odd drama from 1951 called The Family Secret in which John Derek plays a spoiled rich boy who accidentally kills his drunken best friend outside a seedy bar. As the news breaks, he confesses to daddy (Lee J. Cobb) who happens to be a high-powered lawyer. So doing with the rich and privileged always do, they decide to say nothing, but the cops accuse a local bookie who then goes on trial for murder. Guess who defends him. Cobb's conscience won't let an innocent man ... even a bookie ... get convicted for a crime he didn't commit. Of course there seems to be no real problem in Derek's ditching all responsibility. Interesting look at the country-club set of the era (they even have black servants) and their assumption of superiority. Their smugness is shattered when things go wrong at the trial. Erin O'Brien-Moore is the mother, Jody Lawrance a sometime girl friend, Whit Bissell the bookie, Dorothy Tree his wife, Peggy Converse the victim's mother, Henry O'Neill, Onslow Stevens, Raymond Greenleaf, and Santos Ortega as the prosecutor.